Will running local out of school ruin my career?

Whats wrong with doing a year OTR? ...Nothing, as it called experience. If you can get on with a union or a local non union go do an application, all they can do is tell you that you need a little more experience but ask them!

 

The problem with going local out of school is that it does not count as experience to any road company that I know.
So if you do that for 6 months and then decide to go OTR you will then have to take a refresher course to work for a road company. Since you will have been out of school 6 months and to them you have not driven in that time.
So you will be paying again for something that you really do not need.
Otherwise, OTR experience counts for 3 years. Many will want 6 months in the last year though. So if you drive 2 years and take one off or local they may still have issues.
Some smaller company's are not this picky, and some larger ones are not either.
But many are.

 

Tre81,

Why not put yourself in the top 3-5%, instead of jumping onto the bandwagon ??!!

OTR is not the most important segment of trucking, the road that you choose to follow is much more important.

If you never go OTR, it will not really slam many doors closed !!!!!

What you have planned makes alot of sense.............

 

You are thinking about doing what I ended up doing. It has held me back, but not made things impossible.

There are a lot of opportunities for someone who has never been OTR. Enough that you could make a career out of driving and never have to go OTR.

But, it will make things harder for you when you go to look for a job.

A lot of companies don't seem to know what to think of experience from a local job. Imagine how there would be a difference between running local in a long wheelbase sleeper cab truck with a 13 speed pulling a 53' trailer in a snow covered mountain setting vs. running an automatic daycab with a big back window pulling a 35' on dry flat land. Big difference in experience, yet they come across pretty much the same on an application, so I think a lot of companies have concerns about what they are getting. With OTR experience you expect that they have pretty much seen it all, so that has become the standard and most jobs require one year's worth.

However, that does not mean that you can not get some good experience and then sell yourself to a company. You just need to make sure they know your skill level because it's not as obvious on an app as if you had OTR.

 

I will say this, I have known many drivers that have never left the state, and are home every night, they ARE every bit a trucker as every guy that went OTR. This is a big industry, and I rad where a guy that drives a stright truck, or a guy who drives local are not real truck drivers. Thats just not what I Believe. Not everyone is cut out for OTR, I personally do not like driving local, but it takes us all to get product to custmer. Do what you want to do, the name callers will keep shouting, just do not pay attention to them. Good Luck, and safe miles,

Larry

 

Hey if you can get a local gig that pays good right out of school, jump on it! Then consider yourself lucky. You also might want to get your twix card. Would be a great benefit to you since you are in JAX. Good luck!

 

Don't worry about not getting on with a union shop just because its not considered OTR. Alot of LTL carriers (both sides) hire based on the person more then OTR exp. Anyone who does LTL will tell you its a whole different demon then OTR.

As for people saying drivers are any less a trucker just because they sleep in their own bed every night is a bunch of bs. I consider someone who spends 8-12 hrs city driving while hitting 15-30 docks a day just as much a trucker as someone who drives 2500-3000 miles a week.

 

I don't understand how these big companies will pick up drivers right out of school, but if you run local, they don't count it as "experience", and wont hire you. But to get that local job, you usually have to have that year OTR. Doesn't make sense, but then again, no one ever said anything about trucking was gonna make sense.